Best Glamping near Johns Island, SC

Nice RV Site if you are visiting Charleston, South Carolina. The site is very hot due to no trees. Currently the restrooms and showers are down, so you need to have a self contained unit. However, very quiet. No pull thru sites. Must back in.

There are two sections to Edisto Beach State Park. The Ocean side campground is the best with the ocean breezes, but the marsh side campground is an easy bicycle ride from the beach.

It's South Carolina in the summer, so there are mosquitoes. And the raccoons are pretty fierce so you want to make sure your food is stored securely, so you don't wake up to critters eating your potato chips.

The restrooms and showers are clean.

Edisto Island is one of the least developed islands in South Carolina. There is a Piggly Wiggly grocery store to pick up all the things you may have forgotten. There is an ice cream shop and several restaurants, but it is pretty quiet. My favorite thing about staying at Edisto Beach State Park is bicycling to the beach, bicycling along the paths in the state park that lead to a shell mound, built by Native Americans around 2,000 B.C., and bicycling for beers at one of the little bars overlooking the ocean. Another plus is the park's proximity to Botany Bay.

Reservations during the main season are key if you have any hope of getting a campsite in this awesome Francis Marion National Forest campground which sits just along the gorgeous intercoastal waterway, about 40 minutes northeast of Charleston, SC! We pulled in without reservations and nearly every site was booked out. The campground host was super helpful, though, finding us an empty spot (due to a cancellation) for a couple nights, then moved us to a non-reservable site for the remainder of our time.

The majority of the sites are designed for very large RVs, with a few very nice waterfront sites designated for tents. Each site is spacious, complete with a picnic table, firepit, 2 lantern poles, and electrical hookups, with a dump station at the back of the campground. The bathrooms are equipped with flush toilets, sinks, and a shower and kept relatively clean.

The campground itself is dripping with live oaks and speckled with Palmetto trees, so lots of shade is available, especially in the tent areas. The boat launch is walking distance from the campground and has a nice picnic area adjacent to it. We watched a pods of pelicans and dolphins come through the area, as well as many other sea birds.

We kayaked along the intercoastal waterway and out into marshy sea grass areas and had one of the most amazing wildlife encounters to date (and we’ve been all over the country). We saw a pod of dolphins in the distance, which appeared to be feeding. We stopped about 150 away and just enjoyed watching them dance and dive in the morning light. Then, two of the dolphins peeled away from the pack and headed straight toward us. As they approached our kayaks, the larger one gave an extra tail fin flap and dove under our boats, coming up just a bit on the other side. As naturalists, our hearts were pounding with excitement! We also hiked and mountain-biked along the gorgeous Palmetto Trail (which is a mountains-to-sea trail across South Carolina, and this campground serves as its coastal terminus).

Also, don’t miss the famous Sewee Restaurant for some downeast coastal Carolina fare, as well as the Center for Birds of Prey just across the highway from this restaurant. This wildlife conservation and rehabilitation center is doing some amazing things for birds and in the region and doing a great job of public education. If you head up the coast, be sure to stop in Boats & Hoagies in McClellanville for a bite to eat. Cute place, great food, awesome service!

The $20 per night fee is a great price for the amenities this campground offers, especially with full hook-ups and showers, and a boat launch. Check out our blog on The Dyrt's Online Magazine about our experience on the coast of South Carolina.

When making reservations at James Island County Park we had modest expectations, but we were going to tour Charleston most of the time, so we decided anything close to the city would be good enough. The campground turned out to be very nice. We wished we had stayed there longer to enjoy not only Charleston, but the nature beauty of the park itself. The campground is located in a huge park with lots of amenities. The sites are spacious, covered with trees, full hookups with 50 amp service. There are a lot of shaded picturesque walking and bike trails in the park. The dog park was amazingly big, with a little doggy beach for water lovers. There is a big kids playground with a fun looking spray play fountain. It is located just 15 min drive from the campground to downtown Charleston. It is a great campground to stay when visiting Charleston. We have a video on our YouTube Channel- Summertime RV Rovers- about this park- Great Campgrounds in Coastal South Carolina: Charleston and Hilton Head Island. Please check for yourself. We camped at James Island County Park in a Motorhome.

This county park makes an excellent base camp for visiting the Charleston area. Tent camping is done festival style, with no specific sites. Everyone is in a big open field which is a lot of fun but does not offer much privacy. Staff was very friendly and helpful. There are many activities available at the park, including a dog park and dog beach, a waterpark, and a lake. It is just a short 20 minute drive to get into Charleston or down to Folly Beach. Make reservations. Would definitely stay here again.

Being a new full time rv-liver, lol, I am unfamiliar with many of the parks and camping areas around the country, my plan is to quickly change that! Since this is my first time as an adult alone in an organized camping area.. tons of experience just camping out in the woods, being a hillbilly from Tennessee! My view might be a little from ignorance, but I know lots of people are choosing to give up their big house payments (mine was $3100 a month!) and now exploring and choosing to live instead of just exist to pay bills! My reviews will be geared to others like me, first timers. A little nervous, a little scared but amazingly excited about this new adventure we call life! So here goes.

Make your reservations early! Which is hard to do if you just want to be spontaneous and take off, like me. The first two nights I was in what was called overflow… overflow is a great big treeless field covered by power lines and absolutely NO SHADE! No plug ins and no water. The park itself is great. There are so many things to do and an amazing dog park with a huge lake, all the amenities are great! But the reservation system doesn’t seem logical to me. I had to move three times in the 6 days I stayed there. Just seems if I’m already in a spot and someone is coming in for a night they could be placed in another vacant spot instead of the person who is already set up, unpacked etc, pack up all their gear and move to that empty spot?!? I could understand if a space is specifically requested by another camper and of course that should be honored but if someone is just coming in to spend a night, why move the person who is already in the existing set up camping spot? Since I’m a newbie, maybe someone can explain that to me?

Beaides rhe reservation issues, the park is set up well… great spot for families.. climbing wall, miles of trails, fishing and so close to downtown Charleston and folly beach but it feels like you are out in the country. Very clean and and the staff I dealt with were all very friendly. Recommended!

The wooded areas needed to be trimmed and it had a lot of poison ivy. But the rest of the grounds was pretty awesome. Brand new remodels in the bathrooms. Tons of activities for children. Very pet friendly. Close to Charleston and Folly Beach.

We found this campground well maintained and quiet. The bath house was recently remodeled and now has air conditioning. I found it to be one of the nicest bath facilities we have ever used. The campsites have full RV hook-ups and come with a picnic table and fire ring. The park does allow pets and has a dog park with a beach; it seems like the pups were having a marvelous time playing chase on the beach.This is a County Park with trails for walking or leisure biking. A new water park is under construction and should open this summer. The camp store is well stocked and the staff was very friendly and helpful. One downside was the WIFI (one of the perks at this place) did not work the entire 5 days we were there. I need to work remotely so this was a BIG problem. I had to go to the Starbucks to work...bummer! Positives were the easy drive and parking at nearby Folly Beach during the week, and the close proximity to Historic Charleston.

Lots to do all year; splash park, paved trails, climbing wall, frisbee golf, dog park, and Christmas lights with Santa Claus

This is one of the best "all around" campgrounds we have visited. Sites are spacious and clean. plenty of sights to see in Charleston. It has a fantastic dog park and several miles of paved walking/biking paths. Great local restaurants, carriage tours, forts, shopping and more! Awesome place to stay!

Easy access to all of the tourist spots and nice that it was gated.

Great place for families. Not very secluded. It is pretty much one big open green space with tent sites circling in a loop around the green space. You cannot park your car right at the site. There is a parking lot so you have to hike in just a little bit. The park there is really nice though and nice trail that takes you to the dock and marsh. There is a shower and they even have laundry facilities. Great play area for kids during the day also with a spray play. Volleyball nets throughout the area and you can rent bikes, kayaks, sup, and pedal boats. Also have a climbing wall. This was a great place to get our feet wet when we first started camping.

We didn’t see a bad spot in the whole place. RV sites are secluded, allowing you privacy. The shower houses looked pretty new and were very clean and roomy. There is coin laundry available. It is in a state park and there is a water park, amazing dog park, picnic and outdoor games area. Book early b/c they fill up quick. It is close to just about anything you would want to do in the area.

This is a great campground in a great area! The staff is super helpful and the facilities are all great. We have been living in Charleston for the past 10 years or so and after selling our house we found ourselves at this campground three different times in the past 2 months! 

This is in a super convenient location for visiting Folly Beach. Folly has a cute downtown with lots of restaurants and bars. There is a fun night scene there as well. The campground is on James Island and not far from Wal-Mart, drug stores and anything else you might need. When we visited during the summer break there were kids all over the campground riding bikes and having a ball!

This is also the most convenient campground for visiting gorgeous downtown Charleston. There is so much to do in Charleston and so many great restaurants to try. Definitely take a walk on The Battery (ideally at sunset) and take a carriage tour.

Here is a little more info on the specific sites we were in:

Site 115: This site is on the pathway to the bath house so there isn't as much privacy when you are sitting outside of the RV as one might like. However, it was really convenient for doing laundry! 

Site 48: This was our favorite of all of the sites. It is more private and had the best cell service of the ones we were in. It's a little bit further from the bath house than the other sites we stayed in, but we thought the privacy was worth it.

Site 117: This was the first site we were in. All of the sites in the park are great, but this one was shady and very wet. It rained pretty much the whole time we were there and the site seemed to never dry out!  

Site 71: This is a pretty big site so that was nice. It got morning sun and was much drier than 117. Site 71 is a shared site, but it didn't really matter since we were in the site that faced out to the big yard. Site 72 had to stare at our RV the whole week.

We also heard from a campground host that sites 86 and 88 flood when it rains. FYI!

When you are driving into the campground, make sure to follow the brown signs leading you to the campground. The live oaks in Charleston are gorgeous, but some of the limbs definitely hang a little low in places! Following the brown signs will help you avoid them.

Nice park with lots to do. Central location for visiting Charleston and Fort Sumpter and the Low Country. Great dog park with lake! We had 2 days of heavy rain and some sites flooded, but everything drained well. Clean showers. Water park/splash pad.

Awesome dog park with separate areas for large and small dogs, a water park, climbing wall, bike/walking path and much more. Close to historic Charleston and Folly Beach. Friendly and helpful staff, nice clean bath houses with laundry and kitchen facilities. Super nice campground!

Went camping there when my son was young lot of room to camp (tent) keep an one ear on creters. Great trials clean bath house good fishing

Perfectly situated near folly beach! Awesome trails. Pet friendly ,great fishing. Clean restrooms.

If we had more time then we would have stayed longer to enjoy the lake and more. We pulled in late in the afternoon and then headed right into the city. There were a few sites remaining when we got there but virtually no one in the back lot tent area. They have a large tent only area and big parking area. They could do something to cater to van campers with their big lot out back. The showers were nice and they had a nice park and splash pad next to the pond. They have a nice game room, some yard games, and other amenities. Hookups at all the sites except for the tent area.

Water park in the summer and Festival of Lights in the winter. Clean fun and friendly park.

This is simply the best places to camp when visiting Charleston, especially if you have 4 legged family members. The off leash area is fabulous. Bike and walking trails are all paved and flat, no hills. Convienient to beaches and Charleston attractions. Come and relax or go and enjoy. It's hard to get it wrong.

Near downtown Charleston. Easy to get in and out. Reasonable rates. Near everything around Chai.

This county park is a great one, but it is especially awesome during the Festival of Lights. People all over Charleston want to come check out the lights, so being able to stay in the park during the festival is amazing. You are right there with all of the festivities, but the park is set back a little so you don’t have to be in the hustle and bustle if you don’t like. The location is the best you are going to get for checking out downtown Charleston. Also, Folly Beach is the closest beach and isn’t far away at all. There are some great restaurants nearby and grocery stores too.

Ok so the campground is awesome because it’s full of trees. I love that because it offers lots of shade and privacy. Also I felt so safe with my family. Also we saw so many people just walking their dogs, which we love dogs. It’s quiet. It’s great. Also it’s very kid friendly. They have an awesome park. Can’t wait to go back. Now I will say I would not recommend the cabins. They are not clean or updated. Which is a shame because they could be really cool. But this review is for the location where you have your RV.

This summer road trip was to celebrate a couple of birthdays. My daughter and I are both summer babies, so we usually like to include some sort of water activity in our birthday plans. With that being said, we decided on James Island County Park because it had a waterpark. And I am happy we did. This is a great campground. The whole park is very are clean and well maintained. I wouldn't say there is a lot of space between campsites, but it is about average if you are used to staying at state parks and better than a local RV park. We liked that the restroom/shower facilities were kept clean as well. It is important for us because we currently travel in a tiny camper with no bathroom or shower.

The best thing about this campground for us was the fact that the Splash Zone waterpark was within walking distance from our campsite. Now don't be confused and think that the waterpark is included in the price of your campsite, it is not. So be prepared to pay extra if you want to spend the day at Splash Zone, but it is reasonably priced and well worth it. Especially if you are traveling with kids. However, they also have a playground, fishing, rock climbing, hiking, and festivals throughout the year if you don't want to go swimming. We didn't do anything but swim and drive to downtown Charleston, but they do have options for everyone.

**I do have one warning for you if you go to the waterpark. Don't take a lot of personal, expensive stuff. This waterpark is open to the public, which means people who aren't your friendly RVer will also go there. I had to guard our stuff like a hound dog at one point because there was this shady guy walking around the chairs where everybody dropped their stuff. He was fully dressed with basketball shoes on, no swimming gear or towel, and was just looking around at everybody's stuff. And when I sat down by our belongings to protect them, he got up and walked straight out of the park. He could have easily taken our bag which had our truck and camper keys in it, and then we would be stuck. So just be very careful of your things.

A quiet and clean campground with nice sized sites. Bathhouse was super clean. Store had fun stuff. Only complaint is the waterpark is quite loud during the day!

This is a big county park over 600 acres. We could only get reservations for two nights since there was no availability. However this was my favorite ever park to camp at. The campground is tucked in the back of the park. There’s numerous walking/biking paths and a terrific dog park with lake access. The park is very clean and well-maintained. I wish we had more time to explore this lovely, serene park.